In the past, Disney has always said that the Disney Princesses all live in totally different universes and they have nothing to do with each other. Despite this, fans are always quick to try to link them together and the idea of them all existing in one big world is incredibly appealing. Thanks to Ralph Breaks the Internet it looks like we’re going to get all the Princesses in one place, and we’ve seen Frozen and Tangled linked to each other. So it seems that Disney may be relaxing their previous rule and embracing the unified universe that fans all want. With that in mind, I would like to propose that it is time for a Disney MMORPG. Yes, MMORPGs are on a decline, but they are an incredibly valuable way to tell stories and have massive amounts of players interacting with one another.
In this MMO you don’t play a Princess or even a daring General. You’re an adventurer and you’re traveling the world, getting caught up in events, helping Princesses and Genies, and dancing with royalty. Each of the major Disney hits will have its own zone while the smaller, less popular movies still get the chance to make an appearance too.
In the Winter Elsa will introduce a frozen wonderland for you to explore as part of the winter event. You’ll build Olaf a family, relax in the Wandering Oaken Trading Post’s Sauna, and end up humming Do You Want to Build a Snowman for weeks. Across all the zones, hordes of giant snow beasts will attack. If they aren’t fought back the zone will be frozen until it’s taken back by adventurers.
For Halloween, Frankenweenie becomes the star with all sorts of undead monsters coming to life and causing problems across the world. There’s also the option for a Nightmare Before Christmas tie in which gives an alternate Christmas event.
But now you must be wondering about the zones themselves. Many Disney movies take place in the same rough areas as others, though at different times. The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Aristocats, and Ratatouille all take place in Paris but they’re all in different eras so having them together makes no sense.
Instead, the game begins with the fantasy Kingdoms from The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Tangled, Hercules, and Frozen. These are the first main zones that you’ll travel through. Along the way, you’ll see iconic locations from the movies, face off against evil, and help out a demi-god. This is, in reality just the first half of the game. Once you’ve traveled these lands it’s time for you to move on to Agrabah, where you’ll meet the Genie.
The Genie will play a very important role in this MMORPG, he’s the one who will help you get out of the fantasy land and see other places. This is how you’ll see the modern world; a world full of superheroes, dentists, and living toys. He’ll also be the one to take you to alternate realities that are released in the form of expansions. Monsters Inc and Zootopia are only the beginning.
A Disney MMORPG should cross genres because their movies cross genres. There is of course no denying that the fantasy settings the Princesses are from are supreme. But there’s still room for Neverland to exist next to Mulan’s China and Moana’s Polynesia. There’s also room for expansion.
At the moment, the only Disney movies that have been confirmed as upcoming are live-action remakes and sequels, but we do know that Lin-Manuel Miranda is working with the Walt Disney Animation Studio and there’s also an untitled Pixar movie in the works. Depending on what these movies are they may be very easy to slip into their place in the MMORPG or they may require the help of the Genie to get us there. Either way, Disney would be able to have a new tie-in event and game expansion each time one of their movies comes out.
But that led me to a question that I couldn’t quite answer. Do the live action Disney movies have a place in this MMORPG? In this, I’m particularly interested in Pirates of the Caribbean, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Star Wars.
Thanks to Big Hero 6 and the Incredibles, the MCU wouldn’t be too big of a stretch to include. Pirates of the Caribbean have already had their own MMO, but including a pirate-themed zone isn’t too much of an issue at all in my mind. Star Wars though, Star Wars feels like a massive stretch. Sure, we can argue that Genie can take us there. But where and when are we going? The Star Wars films all take place over a long stretch of time. Even current movies aren’t made in the same time periods as one another. We also know that Episode IX will be the last of the Skywalker movies. What is going to happen to the franchise after that? We don’t even know at this point if Disney knows. There’s just too much unknown and too many complications to easily add Star Wars to our Disney MMORPG.
Finally, there is the Fox merger which is looking more and more likely every day. If it does happen that means animated movies like Ice Age, Robots, and Kung Fu Panda will join the Disney lineup. X-Men, Independence Day, and Avatar will also all belong to Disney. Am I suggesting that these movies all join the Disney MMORPG? Not at all, but ownership of them means that when a new one of these films comes out it could be cross-promoted in the Disney game with special limited time events.
There’s a whole lot of potential when it comes to a Disney MMORPG and while I don’t think one will ever be made, it is a lot of fun to dream about. I’ll almost certainly write about this subject again in the future and explore the various zones, what quests you might be asked to undertake, and what you’ll see along the way. I promise this isn’t just an excuse to make my husband sit with me while I watch all the Disney movies…ok, maybe it is a bit.
